Demands of Bolivia’s Central Labor FederationMade to the New
Government of Carlos Mesaas Conditions for Calling Off the General Strike

[Note by the Editors of Labor Standard:
On Friday, October 17, within hours of Sánchez de Lozada’s resignation, the
main labor federation of Bolivia, the COB (Central Obrera Boliviana), presented
a “minimum program” to the new government, whose outlines are reported below.

[Since late September-early October, the COB has
been on a general strike of indefinite duration, which it called, in alliance
with the Indian peasant farmers’ organizations and the organizations of the
mostly Indian urban poor of El Alto and other cities, in opposition to Sánchez
de Lozada’s plan for the export of Bolivian natural gas by a multinational
consortium.

[Imagine, by way of comparison, the AFL-CIO
calling a nationwide general strike of indefinite duration, until the workers’
demands were met! Imagine it doing so in alliance with farmers’ organizations
and organizations of the downtrodden poor, the oppressed nationalities, Blacks,
Latinos/Latinas, Native Americans…

[The COB stated that, as a condition for its
calling off the open-ended general strike, the new government of Sánchez’s
former vice president, Carlos Mesa, would have to make a number of commitments.

[The following report on the COB’s actions is
from the web site Bolpress.com. It has been translated with the help of Eduardo
Quintana, a trade union activist in Arizona whose native language is Mexican
Spanish.]

“COB
Proposes Minimum Program to New Government”

(Bolpress.com)—An enlarged session of the
leading body of the COB, with the participation of twenty different affiliates
(trades or branches of industry), decided, overnight, to continue the open-ended
general strike until the next government has made a commitment “in front of
this organization, not to export gas, either to Chile or Peru, and to repeal
the Law on Hydrocarbons.” [Apparently this is a recent law that allows the
multinational corporations, once again, to gain control of Bolivia’s gas and
oil. In Bolivia’s great national revolution of 1952, those natural resources
were nationalized.]

In addition, the COB approved a document that
presented the new government with a minimum program. Most prominently, the
program calls for revision of privatization contracts, annulment of the
agrarian reform law [which now apparently allows communally owned land to be
sold on the market], revival of national industry, and the bringing to justice
of those responsible for “genocide” against the people during the so-called
“gas war.” [“Gas war” is the journalistic name that has now been given to the
mass protests since late September against the exporting of Bolivia’s natural
gas by foreign multinational corporations.]

The COB decided not to give support to the new
government, because it considers the ouster of Sánchez de Losada to be only a
change of individuals, not a change in economic policy [literally, “no change
in the economic model”].

In addition, the COB prefers to maintain its
“class independence,” that is, not to compromise with a government that is not
of the working class. But since the COB ought to be responsive to the existing
situation, COB President Jaime Solares indicated that, in order for the
indefinite general strike to be called off, the government would have to “make
a commitment, in front of this organization (the COB), not to export the gas,
either through Chile or Peru, and to repeal the law regarding gas and oil.”

In this connection the COB presented the new
government with a minimum program, which in its view expresses “the outcry of
the people.” As long as the newly mandated government works in this direction,
the COB will remain alert and vigilant. If the opposite occurs, “the roads and
streets will again be turned into barricades.”

Among the points in the proposal are: “Review by
the Congress of all privatization contracts, ‘shared risk’ contracts, and
leasing of petroleum deposits, mines, and state-owned companies, so that the
Political Constitution of the nation will be respected.” [The Bolivian
constitution apparently intends that the mineral wealth of the country be
preserved for the nation as a whole.]

The proposal also demands: “Annulment of the
agrarian reform law, which commercializes the land. Redistribution of the
land. And respect for communally owned land and land originally owned by the
indigenous peoples.”

The third point in the proposal specifies:
“Restoration of the social rights of the Bolivian workers. Immediate annulment
of ‘free contracting.’” [“Free contracting” apparently allows employers to hire
and fire at will, without any legal restrictions.] In addition, the proposal
urges: “Revival of national industry, rejecting the kind of ‘free trade’ that
the FTAA would establish.”

The final demand is “bringing to justice those
responsible for genocide against the people of Bolivia, who rose up in defense
of the nation’s natural resources and in defense of democracy.” The COB also demands
“annulment of the Law of Security of the Citizen” [which apparently gives
excessive powers to the security forces].

The enlarged session began at five in the
afternoon, after the arrival of miners from the cooperatives of Caracoles, who
entered the Plaza of San Francisco, setting off dozens of sticks of dynamite.
This group of miners were received with applause [by the crowds of protesters
in the plaza; it is estimated that as many as 350,000 had turned out in La Paz
that day]. The miners [on their way to La Paz] had suffered two fatalities in
the locality of Patacamaya, when the army cowardly fired on them. Immediately a
rally was organized, in which the miners’ leaders participated, along with
David Vargas [the former police major who helped leaded the police rebellion of
February 2003].

At the closing of the enlarged session of the
COB, at eight in the evening, Solares called for another enlarged session at
10:00 a.m. the next morning, at the Teachers’ Social Center, for the purpose of
discussing such subjects as the strengthening and unity of the COB, and for the
purpose of calling an Assembly of the People, which is the political solution,
for the medium term, that the workers will be discussing and analyzing.

The enlarged session of the COB also approved a
letter that will be sent to the acting president of the National Congress,
Carlos D. Mesa, in which the COB “demands that the Congress publicly reject any
request to allow foreign troops to enter Bolivian territory.” This letter
followed hot on the heels of an announcement that the Pentagon would be sending
troops to Bolivia to defend U.S. citizens and the U.S. embassy.

They are demanding that the U.S. not interfere.

Yesterday morning [October 16], 100 U.S.
residents in Bolivia issued a statement demanding that their government “not
intervene in this internal conflict.” They reminded their government that “the
people of Bolivia have the right to determine their own political future free
from pressure or sanctions by the United States.”